{"release":{"id":"DR1","released_on":"2026-08-21","doi":null,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/releases#dr1"},"epoch":{"requested":"now","label":"J2026.670","julian_year":2026.67,"time":"2026-09-02T15:21:58.051Z","years_from_j2000":26.67,"frame":"date","applied":"Proper motion, then precession and nutation. The catalogued J2000 position is carried along the great circle the object's own published motion puts it on, at a constant velocity, and the result is referred to the true equator and equinox of this instant. Those are separate things: the motion moves the object, and the rotation turns the grid under it by about fifty arcseconds a year, with nutation adding up to another seventeen.","excluded":"Parallax, the radial-velocity perspective term, aberration and refraction; each is below the accuracy of the catalogued positions themselves. An object with no published proper motion comes back where the catalogue has it rather than at a fabricated zero, and says so with a null pm_ra_mas_yr. A body with no fixed position is not propagated at all — its place comes from an ephemeris, which is what /api/v1/visible answers with."},"slug":"ngc-4178","name":"NGC 4178","class":"spiral_galaxy_scd","category":"galaxy","object_type":"Spiral galaxy Scd","mag":11.43,"mag_band":"V","abs_mag":null,"abs_mag_band":null,"distance_ly":null,"distance_method":null,"ra_deg":183.19354166666668,"dec_deg":10.865972222222222,"epoch_ra_deg":183.536324,"epoch_dec_deg":10.716619,"epoch_moved_arcsec":null,"pm_ra_mas_yr":null,"pm_dec_mas_yr":null,"orbits":null,"semi_major_axis_km":null,"periapsis_km":null,"mass_kg":null,"mass_msun":null,"constellation":"Virgo","discovered":"1825","featured":false,"url":"https://spacecatalog.org/object/ngc-4178","radius_km":null,"radius_kind":null,"data_quality":null,"description":null,"properties":{"b_mag":11.92,"h_mag":9.37,"j_mag":9.89,"k_mag":9.58,"v_mag":11.43,"redshift":0.00147,"hubble_type":"Scd","wikidata_id":"Q1109561","redshift_cmb":0.0026037758369383823,"discovered_by":"John Frederick William Herschel","ngc_type_code":"G","major_axis_arcmin":4.66,"minor_axis_arcmin":1.24,"wikipedia_article":"NGC 4178","position_angle_deg":32,"surface_brightness":22.87,"radial_velocity_km_s":440},"designations":[{"catalog":"2MASX","designation":"2MASX J12124644+1051575"},{"catalog":"IC","designation":"IC 3042"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS 12102+1108"},{"catalog":"IRAS","designation":"IRAS F12102+1108"},{"catalog":"LEDA","designation":"LEDA 38943"},{"catalog":"MCG","designation":"MCG +02-31-050"},{"catalog":"NGC","designation":"NGC 4178"},{"catalog":"PGC","designation":"PGC 38943"},{"catalog":"SDSS","designation":"SDSS J121246.24+105152.1"},{"catalog":"UGC","designation":"UGC 7215"}],"source":{"id":"openngc","name":"OpenNGC","url":"https://github.com/mattiaverga/OpenNGC","license":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"updated_at":"2026-09-01T22:58:55.274Z","attribution":"Data from SpaceCatalog.org. Individual records carry their source and license in `source`; attribution is required for CC-BY and CC-BY-SA rows."}